The
wonderful world of children’s books and the legends that accompany them is
often something viewers take great pleasure in re-visiting. Perhaps it is
because it’s a small piece of our childhood that we can re-capture for a few
hours in becoming lost in a dream world on film or maybe it is nothing more
than the love of a good film adaptation. Following up their immensely
entertaining miniseries about a girl who didn’t know her own story could be
found in bits and pieces of a dream, and an iconic yellow brick road, SyFy took
on the world of Peter Pan in this, a nearly three hour miniseries that shows us
the legend like we’ve never experienced before.
There is a
doorway, a kind of portal to the mystical, unknown world of Neverland. Once it
encounters human contact, it is virtually impossible for that person to ever
return to their own land. For years, this place has been capturing unsuspecting
victims into its world. It is on turn-of-the-century London streets that a
group of pickpockets come across this orb. Led by the young, idealistic Peter
(Charlie Rowe) who is quite adept at seeing that his companions make clean
breaks from their marks, Peter has a loyal fondness for the man who rescued
them all from the streets. Jimmy (Rhys Ifans) is a skilled swordsman who not
only suffered personal tragedy but also lost any standing he had in London
society. Now his life as the care-taker of a group of urchins and the running
of a fencing school is not where he wants to be. As a result he enters into an
agreement with a man to steal a specific piece from a prominent jeweler.
Wanting to someday become Jimmy’s partner in crime, Peter rallies his friends
and they set out to see the job complete, proving he has what it takes to be a
leader. Before anything can be done, Jimmy comes onto the scene and catches them
in the act. Something goes wrong and all but Peter disappear into no other place
than Neverland. Pursued by a man who appears to be Jimmy’s employer (Charles
Dance), Peter transports himself to the world to save his comrades.
Once there,
Peter encounters a protective band of Indians including the lovely Tiger Lily (Q'orianka Kilcher) and discovers that his friends are
in the custody of the fierce Spanish pirate, Captain Bonny (Anna Friel) save
for his friend Fox. Given shelter by the Indians, the boys plot to save Jimmy
against the better advice of their protectors. Things go horribly wrong and
Peter is once again separated from Jimmy. Forging a tentative alliance with
Bonny, James “Jimmy” Hook wants to retrieve the substance that the wood fairies
make – a potion that allows humans to fly. Having been in Neverland for years,
Bonny uses Hook for his futuristic knowledge while Peter finds his loyalties
tested when he is confronted by the truth – and forges an ally in the wood
fairy, Tinker Bell (voiced by Kiera Knightly).
SyFy has
surprised me with its ability to entertain us through its creative outlets. The
last two miniseries to air on the network were great fun, and I enjoyed the
spunky heroines and silly dramatics. Although I was probably most familiar with
the source material of this production, ironically (or unfortunately), this was
the one that I thought least of. Poor visual effects seem to rule and nearly
ruin the entire production unless, as
a viewer, one simply lowers their expectations, in which case the series is
more fulfilling. It seemed somehow odd that the effects were in such poor taste
because low budget or not, technology provides for so much today – the editing
room is an endless place of resources, and for anyone with an imagination, I
suspect, anything could be dreamed up. Sadly, the team assigned to this
production didn’t max out that budget… or it was in terribly pathetic and poor
taste if they did so.
Countering
its underused and underwhelming sound and special effects that should have been igniting our
imaginations in such a production is some decent, nothing-to-sneeze at acting. The
lead in Rowe gives us a naïve but determined Peter while such seasoned stars as
Dance and Knightly add name recognition. Although we cannot help but love to
hate her, it was fun to see Anna Friel (Pushing
Daisies) in something again and this wouldn’t be a proper review if I
didn’t point out that Ifans makes an excellent villain – and we all know that he
needs to be so in order to better compliment the heroes. Costuming isn’t
horrible and the music shines at times. Though you could do worse in a magical journey,
Neverland is – in my humble opinion¸
the least impressive to have come from SyFy. Having said that¸ it still has a
few tricks up its sleeve.
(What to
know: Implications suggest Jimmy and Bonny are sharing a bed – once we see them
naked in bed together before they are interrupted and must cover up [we see
backside nudity¸ waist up]. There is some swordplay and some characters die
from their wounds [an alligator terrifies characters]. One man’s hand is sliced
off [some blood]. Elsewhere others are threatened and/or double-crossed.)
Fun!
ReplyDeleteI just posted a review about the man who had wrote Peter Pan.
SyFy movies always stink. They have too small a budget to get good actors (usually -- this one had a better cast than most) or terrific special effects. Their television shows are usually fairly good, but I've never been impressed with any of their miniseries. Thought this one was worth watching once, but once was enough!
ReplyDeleteElla - this was a fun one. It is mostly under-whelming because of its special effects but still, it was entertaining. :-)
ReplyDeleteI can remember watching Finding Neverland but its ending is one too sad for me to want to re-visit with frequency. Johnny Depp is superb though!
Charity - this one may have the name recognition but I prefer the other two a great deal more! Oddly enough, this is the story I am most familiar with of the three and I enjoyed the live-action version of Peter Pan from several years ago.
Too bad SyFy cannot get more of a budget because their movies do have imagination!